LOS ANGELES — It never rains in Southern California, they say, which is blatantly blasphemous, because it rained all Friday afternoon and then continued well into the night because, dare we say, it was raining 3s.

The Lakers made 17 3-pointers in their 122-103 victory over Denver. Since 1985-86, only seven other times have the Nuggets allowed an opponent to make 16 or more 3-pointers.

Wait, the Lakers have issues?

Good golly, L.A. looked like something out of a video game Friday, launching 3-pointers unconsciously, slapping around the Nuggets like it was 2002, not 2012.

“They made some tough shots but had some open looks,” said Nuggets coach George Karl, whose team is now 8-9. “We’ve always had trouble with the 3-ball and in certain games like at San Antonio and tonight we were reacting to their cuteness, and coach (Mike) D’Antoni knows how to teach that stuff well.”

Only three NBA teams allow opponents to shoot better from the 3 than the Nuggets. Well, that was frighteningly apparent Friday night. One fellow, Jodie Meeks, went bonkers. The Lakers reserve made five of his first six 3-point attempts in the first half.

“We just got beat,” Nuggets guard Andre Miller said.

Asked if it was an energy factor, with Denver playing on the road back-to-back nights, Miller said, “Yeah, especially trying to be an up-tempo team, we need to come out with energy to get up and down the court.”

Or as Karl said, “Our gas tank was pretty empty.”

Oh, it’s also becoming clear that one of Denver’s biggest issues is defending big men. Remember that first week of the season, when Spencer Hawes, Glen Davis and Chris Bosh looked like David Robinson, David Robinson and David Robinson? Well, that trend is continuing of late.

In the past week, Al Jefferson and David Lee each had their best nights of the season against Denver. And then Friday, Denver faced arguably basketball’s best big man in Dwight Howard.

It wasn’t pretty. Howard looked like he was playing against the JV in the first quarter, scoring 16 points with five boards.

“I thought there was mental fatigue and physical fatigue,” Karl said. “I need to be aware of the schedule, aware of staying positive. We’re still in a very good place. We need to win our home games and figure out a way to steal wins on the road.”

Benjamin Hochman was a sports columnist for The Denver Post until August 2015 before leaving for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, his hometown newspaper. Hochman previously worked for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for its Hurricane Katrina coverage. Hochman wrote the Katrina-themed book “Fourth and New Orleans,” published in 2007.

WASHINGTON — Thirty games into the 82-game NHL season, and nearly six weeks after the Matt Duchene trade, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic discussed the state of his team before Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at the Washington Capitals.